Over the past week, I have directed much of my social justice work, within the Black Women’s Lives Matter movement, towards Marissa Alexander’s case. Yesterday, I went to an East Bay area meeting for Free Marissa Now. Several awesome things took place, including activists organizing to create a Berkeley to Florida caravan that will arrive on the day of Marissa’s court day at the end of January 2015.

For me, two things stand out with this case that yes, are infuriating: (1) The ridiculousness that Angela Corey, Prosecutor of Zimmerman and Dunn, is making Marissa’s life hell for protecting herself from a husband who was beating her and has done so (on record) previously; (2) It says a lot that a significant number of male, mostly white policeman and vigilantes can get away with killing Black people because a [white dominated] jury ‘naturally’ sympathizes with the defendant’s ‘negrophobia’ but; (3) a Black woman standing her ground against her abusive husband needs to “know her place” as woman in a misogynistic hetero patriarchal society and know her place as a Black person in an anti-Black society. She should “let” white racism and abusive men beat her down and never fight back. If she does not, she must be made as an example to all those other Black women (and Black transwomen, remember CeCe McDonald?) to know their place.

See below as two of the folk from this past weekend’s Free Marissa Now East Bay area meeting, Nell and LaJuana, discuss who Marissa is. After, we took selfies of ourselves with the Free Marissa sign. We are hoping that you will take selfies of yourselves, with similar messages and signs to Free Marissa, post to your social media networks, and then have people go to the FreeMarissaNow.org link to learn more about how ALL OF US can help her be free.